new curtains...

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• as i previously mentioned, i've had the itch to do some re-decorating at my house lately, and while i was out and about hunting for some new things at tj maxx/homegoods the other day, i ran across these shower curtains.

the fabric sort of reminded me of a blue-and-white version of the fabric (minus the cute animals!) grace from design*sponge used to cover her headboard in. that, and the fact that i've really gotten into the color combo of grey/coral/navy inspired me to kick the living room up a few notches with a new color scheme and some new curtains.

i bought two shower curtains (only 14.99 each!), and brought them home and clipped them to my ikea curtain ring/rods. unfortunately, they were about a foot too short for my windows!

mika models the mis-fitted curtains here (is there anything that mika is not willing to model? no.):

i almost tried to convince myself that they were ok, but the perfectionist lurking deep within me knew that they weren't ;) after a day or so of trying to come up with a great solution, i decided to add burlap to the bottoms of the curtains to lengthen them. i really ended up loving the look! i'll show you how i did it here.

i bought burlap at joann's fabrics, because it's super cheap there! it's only 5.99 a yard, and i really only needed about 2.25 yards. i also got some of the no-sew iron-on fabric adhesive from ikea (i LOVE that stuff!).

first, i spread out the entire length of the fabric, and laid it up next to the end of the shower curtain. i cut it in half, length-wise, then folded the piece in half again. i ironed down the fold (so it wouldn't be billowy when it was hanging) side.

next, to "hem" the ends of the curtain, i folded about an inch over and slid some of the no-sew iron-on adhesive in, and ironed it down. it takes a while to iron down burlap, but i definitely prefer that to breaking out the needle and thread. plus, ironing is easy!

i was really trying to make this entire project a no-sew one, but unfortunately the thickness of two layers of burlap was just not letting the heat from the iron get through to the adhesive, and i ended up having to do a little sewing.

anyway, after i hemmed the short ends, i laid the shower curtain face-up on the floor, and then laid my new burlap on top of it, and lined up the bottoms. this is where i tried to use the iron on adhesive to "sew" the two pieces together, but it didn't work. i ended up doing a quick whipstitch to lock the two pieces of fabric together, and it worked like a charm! i know you can barely see the needle here, but look closely..

next, i just spread the newly-sewed pieces out flat, and ironed them out (the burlap has a tendency to be quite stiff, but you can iron it and make it behave!).

i quickly hung the first one up, and liked what i saw!

sorry for the dark photo, i've yet to find a time of day/way to photograph my windows to where the light shines properly through them! you get the drift, though!

this tutorial may seem confusing, but really it's just sort of a no-brainer, figure-it-out-as-you-go sort of project. the first curtain took me about an hour to do, but the second one only took about 25 minutes or so. it was fun figuring out the next steps, and i love the 'custom' look of my new curtains! they could stand to be lined now, but i guess that's another project for another day.